


Last Night I Dreamed Of You

by xiermifen



Category: Chinese Actor RPF, 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018), 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018) RPF, 镇魂 | Guardian - priest
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-19 04:41:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 17,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29994036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xiermifen/pseuds/xiermifen
Summary: When they had been filming Guardian, Zhu Yilong and Bai Yu had become inseparable and had spent a large amount of their time together. Despite their clear mutual attraction, nothing had happened between them however. Only a few touches, maybe a few kisses. Okay, more than a few kisses, but the point remained regardless: nothing had happened. After filming had ended, they'd both been whisked far away to different places to work on their next projects. They had never talked about what hadn't happened that summer or discussed the little that had or could happen. That is, until they started to share the same dream, a dream startlingly similar to a certain novel extra in the heart of a valley, where a plum tree stood guard before a small hut.
Relationships: Bai Yu/Zhu Yilong
Comments: 18
Kudos: 30





	1. Zhu Yilong

Zhu Yilong, fundamentally, thought himself to be a simple and straightforward person. If he was happy he was happy, if he was upset then he was upset. Perhaps that what had drawn him to continue acting in the first place. His own emotions were so simple that putting on the guise of another person and feeling their complicated emotions was a thrilling experience.

However he often heard from people that he thought too much, though he didn’t agree. How could he think too much when he was so often lost in situations where others glided through with ease. Surely, if anything, this meant he didn't think enough. He was a person who was simpler than others so had to simulate complexity to be in line with other people. At least that's what he thought.

Bai Yu didn't agree. If anything he was the most vocal proponent of the 'Long-ge is a very complicated person' theory.

"Don't think about it too hard, just pick one," he'd say if they were sitting down at a table with menus in hand. With other people Zhu Yilong would have probably smiled, nodded, but said nothing while continuing to scrutinise the available options, but with Bai Yu, because it was Bai Yu, he would counter with some brash statement or question. "Then give me a suggestion." "You're not the one paying for this." "Don't rush me." Something along those lines. Though the words may seem a little harsh, they were always said in a half exasperated, half jovial manner. And Bai Yu would always respond with a large grin and a laugh and probably also a clap on the back. It was always the same conversation even if the words were different and Zhu Yilong took comfort in it. Here was something that wouldn't change no matter what.

Zhu Yilong woke. It was still dark. He often had to get up before the crack of dawn to travel or get to shooting locations early enough for the make-up crew to do their jobs, but today was a day off. He rolled over, eyes still shut. The bed was warm and he curled up into a ball. He already knew that sleep had abandoned him but he still hoped to maybe doze a little. No luck. It had had that dream again.

It wasn't uncommon for him to have vivid dreams, he had a vivid imagination after all, but he dreamed about his previous roles surprisingly little. He thought that perhaps because he spent so much waking time as those people that his unconscious self was tired of being them so chose not to make them surface in his dreams. Instead, his dreams usually involved whatever video game he had been playing or was hoping to get the time to play. Not so last night. In fact, not so for the past few nights.

Zhu Yilong turned into his back and used an arm to batter away the blanket. His eyes were open now but it was still dark. He could hear the dull hum of a city slowly waking, the noise of tires rubbing against asphalt, the whoosh of air as it whistled over hard surfaces.

He sat up and got out of bed, quickly reaching over to pluck a sweater from the bedside table, feet hopping up and down on the cold tiles. He put on the sweater and a few other things then, feeling less cold, went out into the living room. He wasn't trying to save on electricity by keeping the heater so low, it was merely not being cooperative and the busy actor hadn't had time to get someone to look at it.

The living room was dark and he went around the room turning on the various standing lights before slowly making his way to the bookshelf. He didn't read physical books all that much yet he had somehow collected a sizable collection of the things, enough to warrant two full sized bookshelves. In his defence though, a good amount of space was taken up by old scripts. He never liked to throw things away.

Zhu Yilong scanned the covers for a while, crouching to see the titles closer to the floor and began regretting never putting much effort into finding the time to organise any of it. Much crouching and neck tilting later, he finally found what he was looking for. In the left corner of the bottom-most shelf, he found his small collection of Guardian novels.

Though the core soul of the story was mostly the same, the storylines diverged wildly between the novel and drama, so much so that the original author of the novel had gone back years later and written an extra chapter to bring the drama's story back in line with the novel's. Zhu Yilong had been touched when he heard this and had immediately read this extra when it had come out. While he enjoyed filming the ending of the drama as an actor, as a fan of the original work, he had hoped for a happier ending and that was what the extra had delivered. But it was not this extra that he hoped to check. No, it was one that the author had written afterwards exclusively for a new Taiwanese version of the novel.

In total, Zhu Yilong owned five copies of Guardian. The first he had bought when he had been auditioning for the role. The opportunity had come rather suddenly just as another one of his commitments had fallen through so he'd had the rare opportunity to do in-depth research without having been offered the role. The second copy had been one all the cast and crew on the production had received. This had been the one he'd kept with him on set as a reference as everyone had the same copy and it was easy to just say a page number and get down to business. Even the script had referenced his version. The third copy had come into his possession around the time of the airing of Guardian and it was signed by the author Priest. Zhu Yilong wasn't sure if everyone else had gotten one but he knew Bai Yu had as he had also signed it and Bai Yu his. Zhu Yilong's finger lingered over the spine of this version before moving into the fourth and fifth books. The fourth and fifth copies were roughly the same and both in Traditional Chinese. Even through the drama by that point was far behind him he was still a fan of the work and had been excited to get this new version and read the new extra story. Except he had gotten the wrong version at first and had to order another as the first hadn't included that story.

He slid this last copy off the shelf and stood as he flipped through it till he came to that last extra. He bit his lip. It had been of this story that he had dreamed of last night. Obviously, the drama hadn't included it in its running, it hadn't even been written at that time, yet it had felt in his dream as though he had lived through it before.

Zhu Yilong went and sat at the dining table and began to read. He had acted in a good number of period dramas in his career and so found it easy to imagine the scenes in the story, yet the specifics of what he had dreamed were all new to him. While he was an imaginative person, he was under no illusions as to the power of his visual creativity. To put it bluntly, if he was asked to draw a cat he could do it and people would be able to roughly understand what he was drawing but a caption would be needed for anything more complicated. Essentially, all his stats had been distributed at birth into the performing arts, leaving none to any of the other arts. But if that were the case, how could he have had such a vivid dream about something he had never seen. Or perhaps he had? There were plenty of period and fantasy dramas that he had been in talks with that had ended up coming to nothing, and even a few where he’d gotten a glimpse at the conceptual art, but even so, he had a sneaking suspicion his dream had been totally unique.

He had been thinking these circular thoughts in his head as he read the story and had nearly gotten to the story’s sad conclusion when he suddenly looked up. There was now light peaking in past the blinds of the window, but it hadn’t been this that had broken his concentration. It had been a sudden feeling in his chest.

Zhu Yilong stood and went back into the bedroom to retrieve his phone. The screen was still lit up and there was a preview of a message on it. The feeling had been right. It was Bai Yu. Zhu Yilong knew himself to not believe in the supernatural yet somehow, since the moment they had met, he had always had an almost sixth-sense for when Bai Yu was about to say something to him, be it in person or over the phone.

The preview of Bai Yu’s message only showed the latest message, a long line of ‘hahaha’s, so Zhu Yilong nimbly unlocked the phone and swiped to see the rest. In the time it had taken him to get up, walk from the living room to the bedroom then unlock his phone, Bai Yu had been able to send almost ten messages. How could he type so fast on a phone? It never occurred to Zhu Yilong that his friend could be on a computer.

Zhu Yilong scrolled up and began to pick through Bai Yu’s nonsensical garbling. To an outsider Bai Yu’s messages hinted at a certain level of drunkenness but Zhu Yilong had learned from experience that the man could often be surprisingly coherent while inebriated. Zhu Yilong read through the messages and stickers. The messages were funny and the stickers were funnier, but as he had read, he felt a chill go down his spine and it wasn’t due to the petulant heater in his apartment. He read over the messages again and found there really was no other way of interpreting them. Bai Yu had had the same dream as him. Had done for the past few nights.

Zhu Yilong lowered his phone and looked toward the bedroom window. The blinds were closed but he didn’t notice. His mind was elsewhere. What was he feeling? He had no idea, only that it was complicated.


	2. Bai Yu

When Bai Yu had sent that string of messages, he hadn't expected a response for at least a few hours, so when his phone vibrated he jolted upright. Then immediately regretted it as his head pounded. He leaned back against the bed rest for a few moments and let his head stop swimming before checking his phone. He'd only had a few drinks the night before. Okay, more than just a few, but he'd had more before and not had half as much of a headache as this time. He brought his phone closer to his face to read but the bright screen set his brain on fire again so held the phone further away and grabbed at the bedside table for his glasses. It took a few tries, a different hotel and different bedside table and all that, but he eventually found them and shoved them onto his face. Years ago he'd done the same to another pair and had ended up bending the arms beyond repair. Since then he'd always chosen to only wear very sturdy frames.

Bai Yu swiped open the message from Zhu Yilong and read it. Then read it again. Then he burst out in laughter. Luckily he was alone in the hotel room. Long-ge had had the same dream. Incredible! If such a thing as a red string of fate existed in this world, then Bai Yu was prepared to bet that the two of them were tied together. The thought made a warm feeling well up in his chest and he smiled. Relative to other people in his life, he and Zhu Yilong hadn't known each other for that long, yet he'd felt a strong feeling of kinship from the moment they'd met and he was sure Zhu Yilong felt the same way. It was a connection he felt sure would never change no matter what happened.

Bai Yu tapped back a few witty responses then lowered his phone and gazed out at the dark room as he waited for a response. Suddenly his phone vibrated and he looked down to see that Zhu Yilong was video calling him. Sometimes when things got busy, they wouldn't say a word to one another for months on end, but when they did find time to chat, they always returned to being as close as ever like no time had passed at all. Despite that they hardly ever called one another and instead used a mixture of text, sticker and voice messages to bicker back and forth. Needless to say, video calls were even rarer.

Bai Yu tapped the answer button and held the phone before himself as it connected. As he watched the dots circle around in a loading animation he could feel his heart start to race.

The screen flickered and Zhu Yilong's handsome face appeared on the screen. Bai Yu grinned, all his teeth bared to the fullest. He saw Zhu Yilong's eyes focus on him through the screen and he smiled in response.

"What's the matter, Long-ge?" Bai Yu asked, his grin turning into more of a smirk. "Can't sleep? Want me to sing you a lullaby?"

Zhu Yilong rolled his eyes. Bai Yu knew that he would, that's why he'd said that, but it still warmed his heart to see that familiar motion again. It had been so long since he'd seen his friend, really seen him, not just a recording for a drama or TV show, but where he could make him react and where he knew he would be listening. Listening. That's what it was, wasn't it. No matter what crazy outlandish thing Bai Yu said, Zhu Yilong would always listen. Even if his immediate response would be to smack him, Zhu Yilong always listened first very attentively. Till this moment Bai Yu hadn't noticed how much he'd missed it, but now that he had, he wondered how he was going to cope moving forward.

"That's my question," Zhu Yilong countered, unaware of the thoughts streaming through Bai Yu's mind. "What are you doing up at this time? I thought you're still filming?"

Bai Yu made a face at the camera. Zhu Yilong smiled and shook his head in an exasperated manner. Technology really was a wonderful thing, Bai Yu found himself thinking. "We wrapped filming today. Go on, praise me!" Bai Yu said dramatically.

Zhu Yilong nodded and used his free hand to clap against his arm. "Good job, good job."

Bai Yu's smile lost its smirk and reverted back to being a genuine grin. He saw Zhu Yilong's eyes become gentler. "It was pretty cool dreaming about Kunlun and young Shen Wei! Ah it's been so long, Long-ge..." Bai Yu's voice trailed off as he saw Zhu Yilong tilt his head with a confused expression on his face. "What is it?"

"Kunlun? But I dreamed about Shen San."

Now it was Bai Yu's turn to be confused. "Shen San? Who's that?"

Zhu Yilong didn't immediately reply to this question and instead started walking. Bai Yu saw the background behind him change and become brighter. "In my dream, we were living in a little hut at the bottom of a valley. I was still Shen Wei, but you weren't Kunlun anymore."

The video feed on Bai Yu's phone shifted then stilled. It seemed like Zhu Yilong had propped his phone up somewhere. With both hands free, he reached out of view then brought a blurry rectangular object into view. Bai Yu peered at the screen and concluded it was probably a book.

"Have you read the fifth extra of the novel?" Zhu Yilong asked. Ah, he was holding up a copy of Guardian. Bai Yu could now make out the title in stylistic calligraphy on the front.

"Ay, I didn't know Long-ge was such a big fan," he immediately said, not really thinking about what he was saying. He just wanted to respond in some way first to give himself time to think. The fifth extra? That rung a very distant bell but nothing about its contents came to mind. "What's it about?"

"Oh it's..." Zhu Yilong paused and Bai Yu got the impression that his friend was starting to blush. Ah, so it was that kind of extra huh? Bai Yu couldn't help but laugh and was rewarded with a pixelated glare. Ay, wait a moment. If it really is that kind of extra, then what exactly did Zhu Yilong dream about? He had clearly said 'we' earlier. Bai Yu's mouth had suddenly gone dry.

"Ah, let me get up first," he said, sliding the phone into the bedside table before getting out of bed. Under other circumstances he would have relished in teasing Zhu Yilong incessantly, but this time the thought never crossed his mind. He quickly dressed and retrieved his phone. He glanced down at the screen. "Did you get your heater fixed yet?"

Zhu Yilong's head bounced up in surprise but he seemed thankful at the change in topic. He shook his head. "No time yet. I've been sleeping all day since I got back."

Bai Yu laughed as he imagined a slothful Long-ge curled up in a pile of blankets. He purposefully forced his mind to stay squarely out of the gutter, but his subconscious was too quick and the Zhu Yilong in his mind cracked open an eye and smiled invitingly at him. Bai Yu breathed in sharply and put his phone on the kitchen counter.

"Long-ge, you'd be so proud of me. Look, I'm actually making breakfast!" A laugh came from the phone.

"You're so hard working." Bai Yu grinned in spite of the twisting in his stomach. "What are you eating?"

Bai Yu ripped a bite out of the slice of bread and waved it in front of his phone. "Bread," he said, a little incoherent.

A sigh came from the phone. "That's it? Just bread? I'm taking back my praise."

Bai Yu jumped to pick up the phone. "No! You can't do that! Praise is non-refundable."

"It is if I say it is. Go and put something on that bread or I'll really take it back."

Bai Yu pouted then set his phone up against the toaster. "Fine fine fine fine fine. Look, I'm doing it," he said as he opened the small hotel fridge and pulled a jar of something out he’d stuffed in there a week ago. He heard Zhu Yilong smother a laugh.

When they had been filming Guardian, the two of them had become inseparable and had spent a large amount of their time together. Despite their clear mutual attraction, nothing had happened between them however. Only a few touches, maybe a few kisses. Okay, more than a few kisses, but the point remained regardless: nothing had happened. After filming had ended, they'd both been whisked far away to different places to work on their next projects. They had never talked about what hadn't happened that summer or discussed the little that had or could happen. For Bai Yu, it was like he was gingerly edging around something that was simultaneously an abyssal canyon and a fragile treasure. He was frightened of breaking it yet even more scared of looking properly at it. And for Zhu Yilong… For just about everything, Bai Yu was confident he could roughly guess what his friend thought and get it mostly right, but when it came to this matter, he was entirely in the dark. Or, if he was being truthful with himself, he chose to be in the dark.

In the end, Bai Yu spread some gelatinous substance on the bread and Zhu Yilong did not withdraw his praise. They talked about this and that, what they’d been doing, what they were going to do, and generally had a good time. Neither went near their initial topic of conversation. As he laughed and teased, at the back of Bai Yu’s mind he decided that he needed to find out what this fifth extra was all about.

Bai Yu owned two copies of Guardian. Or maybe three. Or... well, at least two copies, let's just go with that. One was the one given to the cast and crew and the other was the signed copy. Like Zhu Yilong he'd been able to read it before auditioning but he'd chosen to go about it digitally. When it came to owning possessions he took a very strict attitude: if it was something he could do without, he'd do without it, but if it was something he liked and wanted to keep, he'd keep it till he died. He liked to be free but he was also sentimental. Because of this, his home in Shaanxi was filled with all kinds of strange things that made it look like an antiques and curios shop, while his flat in Beijing looked like a minimalist display home.

Bai Yu arrived in his echoey apartment in the late afternoon and collapsed on his bed. Opposed to conventional wisdom his bed was not in his bedroom but was in the living room filling in the role of a couch. In his 'bedroom' he instead had his desk set up with a pc and a few gaming consoles. Initially this unconventional set up had been designed out of necessity as the freshly graduated actor has tried to eek out a living in the metropolis of Beijing. Eating out was expensive, rent was expensive, buying food was expensive, and even the public transportation was trying to murder his wallet. So he thought, why have a couch? It's just something to lie on, so why not just use the bed? After some years had passed, and he'd started getting more prominent roles, he'd considered buying a couch then immediately dismissed the idea. He liked the weirdness of it, he liked how if made him feel as though he'd made the place his and not just followed whatever rules society had arbitrarily decided on.

Bai Yu rolled onto his back and got our his phone. He'd flown back that afternoon and his body was tired but his brain was buzzing. He tapped about on his phone for a while, then frowned. From what little Zhu Yilong had said that morning he knew what he was looking for was the fifth extra and that it involved someone called Shen San. Based on the same he would have assumed it was an alias of Shen Wei but Zhu Yilong had said he was still Shen Wei so...

Bai Yu sighed grumpily and turned on his stomach to give his stiff hands a break. Back when the drama had aired he'd read the fourth extra that Priest had written to tie the drama's canon back to the novel's and had liked it, but he'd had no idea that another extra had been written after it. Apparently he wasn't a big a fan as Zhu Yilong. The thought of his stoic Ge lining up at a bookstore along surrounded by unwitting Guardian Girls and Boys made him chuckle to himself. It would never happen, obviously Zhu Yilong would just order it online, but the image amused him nonetheless. But before long the smile had dropped from his face. He still couldn't find this extra. Was it's content really that out there? He thought back to Zhu Yilong's blushing face that morning and concluded that this must be the case. His mind started down the next logical train of thought but he stopped himself short. He was tired from travelling and he needed to sleep, not just lie here and...do other things.

Bai Yu locked his phone and shoved it out if reach then burrowed under the blanket. He continued twisting about until his feet and legs were completely wrapped up and only then realised he was still fully dressed in the clothes he'd come back in. Ah... Whatever. He'd just sleep for a bit first... then...

Lucid dreaming, Bai Yu had heard of the term before, had even acted it out in a cut scene in a drama, but he'd never experienced it first hand himself. He was standing in a glade next to a horse, his horse, who was munching on some fresh spring shoots. It was the beginning of Spring and Bai Yu could feel the change in the frigid air as life started to stir under the soil. The sky was overcast and there were ominous clouds in the distance and if he squinted he could just barely see a shimmering wall of rain coming down on the mountains to the East. He should get back quickly.

Bai Yu nudged his horse then tugged at its lead when it obstinately ignored him. "Come on," he said as he pulled harder. Finally the stubborn horse relented and followed him.

How did he know where to walk? How did he know how to read the weather? How could he see so far without glasses? He had no idea. He was clearly lucid but it was also like he was this other person, whoever this other person was. He looked down at himself and saw he was wearing a well worn robe, much like a wuxia character, that had probably been a blueish green at some point but had now firmly set up camp in the grey. There were wrappings around his wrists to restrain the sleeves and his hands looked rough and strong. Suddenly struck by a thought, he reached up and touched his head. Just as he thought. He had long unkempt hair that was lazily drawn back in a ponytail. He tugged experimentally and confirmed it really was his real hair and not a wig as was usually the case in a period drama. He looked back at his horse, Peaches was the name that came to mind, and saw the brown horse was laden with a good number of sacks. Bai Yu didn't need to look at them to confirm what they were. Somehow, he knew that while there was a good amount of various foods in them the majority was salt.

The sky gradually grew darker as the pair trailed their way through the tall dead grass. In the distance there was a roll of thunder, but Bai Yu was unconcerned. He knew they were almost back. Before then was a great mountain and at its foot, a gap only a few humans wide. He led the horse. Inside was a tunnel, much larger than its entrance suggested and also brighter. He looked up and saw he could still see the sky through a massive crack above. The ground sloped downwards and soon the vegetation started to change. Bai Yu didn't know much about plants, but the person he was now did. In a dark crevice to the side be spotted some edible mushrooms and broke off a third. The air became more moist and there was starting to be mist all around, obscuring the ground. Suddenly, the walls disappeared and Bai Yu had found they'd finally reached their destination: the valley.

Bai Yu’s heart suddenly felt heavier as he made his way into the valley. He led his horse up to the stream that ran down the valley’s center and let it drink. The moist air and dense vegetation made it much warmer than the outside plains yet he felt strangely cold and melancholic. He let Peaches drink a little while longer than led it on. On toward that strange hut hidden away in the valley. On toward the place where there was no one waiting for him.

The hut came into view, its recently repaired slats standing out in stark contrast to the dark wood of the original construction, the yards around it filled with the last of the winter crop ready to be harvested, the plum blossom tree out the front in full bloom. Bai Yu’s eyes widened and he ran forward.

Slumped at the base of the tree was a figured garbed completely in black. But while his hair was dark and long, his face was a stark white, emphasizing even further the refined beauty of that face. That face that Bai Yu knew so well.

“Long-ge!”

Bai Yu quickly covered his mouth. Whoever this man was, it couldn’t be Zhu Yilong, no matter how much he looked like him. What would his name be? Not Shen San. Shen Wei? Was the surname being the same significant? Bai Yu really wished he’d had a little more patience in finding that extra. Then again, what did it matter if he said the wrong thing? This was a dream not time travel. He wasn’t going to accidentally rewrite the past if he used the wrong name. But even as he thought this, he distinctly felt that there was a right ‘way’ to go about this dream, as if it wasn’t so much a dream but a…

Bai Yu crouched down and put a hand gently on the black garbed man’s shoulder, shaking it a little. “Hey,” he said softly. He half expected the man, no let’s be real here, Long-ge to not respond at all but suddenly he saw those long lashes flutter. Bai Yu waited with baited breath as Long-ge opened his eyes. Bai Yu saw his eyes slowly focus then then meander up him and lock onto his face. Long-ge’s eyes widened and a single tear ran down his face.

“Bai Yu?”


	3. Zhu Yilong

When Zhu Yilong thought about it, he guessed the most fundamental difference between actors and models was their relationship with the camera. Both jobs required putting on a pretence but it didn’t matter if you were the most beautiful person in the world, if you had no spatial understanding and couldn’t use that understanding to relate to the camera, no beautiful photographs could be produced. That wasn’t to say actors shouldn’t have spatial understand, quite the opposite, but their relationship with the camera had to appear one-sided. An actor has to appear as though they have no inkling that they’re being filmed. Most actors had photo-shoots and many models liked to crossover into acting, but the general advice was always this: if you are modelling, pose yourself to the camera, be hyper aware of where the lens is, but if you’re acting you have to forget about the camera entirely and trust the crew to do their job.

However, for Zhu Yilong, he had been blessed with both good spatial understanding and the ability to appear completely unaware of the camera while still acting to it. When he acted, he could hold two separate trains of thinking in mind at once: one was concerned with minding where the cameras were and imagining what things looked like from their vantage point, while the other was in charge of the actual acting. It was like he had an incorporeal cinematographer in his head that could jump from camera to camera and quickly relay to him how things were looking. Of course, this was all aided and reinforced by frequent viewings of previous takes on the monitor.

And when it came to the acting side of things, the gods had again been incredibly biased and had given Zhu Yilong the capacity to be completely aware of his every movement which allowed him to break each down and build them back up into a different form. However, for once the gods decided to be fair and had bestowed this gift with a downside: outside of wearing a role, Zhu Yilong was incredibly awkward. It seemed all those years of training in the academy had had the unintended side-effect of exacerbating his already present awkwardness. Fortunately, he’d come up with a strategy to deal with this in public appearances: stand politely and take up as little amount of space as possible.

Or as in the present case, sit politely and take up as little amount of space as possible. Fortunately, they had given him a microphone to hold so he only had to find an occupation for one hand as the other played with the mic. It would have been even better if there’d been a cushion for him to squeeze, but this was a more serious kind of interview and no cushions were to be seen.

The interviewer asked a follow up question about the upcoming drama and Zhu Yilong responded, then quickly corrected himself after realising what he’d said was a bit too ambiguous. The interviewer laughed then continued. In those moments, Zhu Yilong always found himself thinking about Bai Yu and how that man who was all gangly limbs could make even tripping over look charismatic. He’d gotten used to blundering his way through interviews but those that he and Bai Yu had given together for the promotion of Guardian had actually been rather enjoyable.

Eventually the interview came to an end and Zhu Yilong got to stumble out of the interview. Overall it had been alright, everyone had been kind and professional, and he’d only marginally slipped up during the non-preplanned questions section. Over a quick lunch, he briefly skimmed back over the interview in his mind and concluded that he’d said everything he needed to say.

Some months ago he’d come across an interview Bai Yu had given. It had been a mixture of prose describing a fashion shoot Bai Yu was participating in with with recollections of his university days as well as how he’d been going recently. Even if some people had long forgotten Guardian, it’s release and unexpected success was still having large ramifications on Bai Yu’s career. Prior, he’d had a good number of roles and quite a few leads but the role of Zhao Yunlan had turned many heads, Zhu Yilong’s included, and had made the world realise there was a little acting genius named ‘Bai Yu’.

But every cloud has it’s silver lining and every light casts a shadow. With the sudden recognition of his skill and talent, Bai Yu had become inundated with people giving him roles, which was good, people wanting to know more about him, which was a little disturbing, and lots of nosey nosey paparazzi, which was the worst. Privately, he'd told Zhu Yilong that was only because the show had gained an instant cult following and nothing else, but Zhu Yilong knew it was mostly because of his on-screen chemistry with Bai Yu. The interview didn't go into much detail about this, only briefly making mention of 'that summer in 2018', nor did it go into detail about how Bai Yu had felt himself become smaller and smaller, like a frightened animal curling up in the corner of a cage. Instead Zhu Yilong had heard it from Bai Yu directly in one of those rare phone calls. He'd listened attentively to Bai Yu's every worry and paranoia, gently encouraging him to get everything out. 

His job as an actor was to become another person and invite the audience watching to believe in a story of non-reality, so why were people interested in what he did privately, where he went, who he was with? Before Bai Yu hadn't cared what people thought of him, but he suddenly had become very aware that if he said the wrong thing, made the wrong people angry, his whole career, no, his whole life could come to an abrupt end.

Zhu Yilong had gone through a similar experience himself but his rise into stardom had been much slower paced and over many more years, so his heart ached when he listened to Bai Yu's small voice over the phone. He had wanted nothing more than to gather Bai Yu up in his arms and kiss it all better, but of course he couldn't. He was miles and miles away so all he could do is offer his time and his words. He also knew there were good people around Bai Yu and he had felt comforted when he had read the interview and saw the conclusions his friend had come to, the resolutions he’d reached.

That afternoon he had to head over to a soundstage for some pickups for the last drama. Not the one he had just been promoting. Another, different one. To an outsider Zhu Yilong probably looked like a workaholic, and even he had to agree that it certainly seemed that way on the outside, but he didn’t think of himself that way. He merely really really loved what he did and wanted to do as much as he could in the limited time he had each day.

As they drove to the film production district, Zhu Yilong slowly paged through the new script his assistant handed to him earlier. It appeared the story was going through some major rewrites and he began to worry a little for the future of the production. He’d have to ask the director about it once he got on set but it seemed like his character had not only suddenly dropped in physical strength for no apparent reason but had also completely changed personalities. It was not the first time this had happened to one of his roles, but it still made him feel as though he was grieving the death of someone. Still, he was a professional. If this was what was asked of him, he would do it to the best of his ability. Long ago he’d made a conscious decision to adhere to the work ethic of working hard no matter the circumstances regardless of his own opinions.

As the car swayed this way and that as it wound through the city, Zhu Yilong slowly worked through the script with a pencil making tentative marks where he thought the emphasise should be in a sentence or where he could break a sentence in two for better delivery. He normally liked to get this done much earlier to give his subconscious mind some time to mull over his creative decisions, but the script had only been handed over to his assistant that morning then he’d had the interview.

The car pulled into the parking lot of the studio lot and Zhu Yilong followed his assistant out of the car, eyes still glued to the script. He kept his assistant in his peripheral and continued to mark up the script as they weaved their way to where the shooting would be taking place. There was a period drama being shot in the lot opposite and a flurry of women in full Tang Dynasty styled robes rushed passed blocking Zhu Yilong and his assistant. He looked over their heads and spotted the director idling next to the cinematographer, tapping a rolled up script to the back of his neck as he listened. The women fluttered past and soon Zhu Yilong became embroiled in the fast paced yet painstakingly slow world of filming.

The first few scenes were mostly reaction shots to fix continuity issues that had been found in editing. Zhu Yilong was glad for it as it gave him time to find this particular character again and it gave everyone an opportunity to find their work rhythm again since it had been over half a year since principal photography had ended. The director for this drama was smart and knew how to bring the best out of actors by organising scenes to be shot in certain ways though it was just a pity that he had little control over the script.

Next were some dialogue scenes that had to he redone. These sequences had originally been shot on location but as time and money was tight it had been decided to build parts of the building on the soundstage instead. All through the shooting, there was a constant wailing and banging from the other side of the soundstage as yet more locations were hammered together for the pickups. During a break, Zhu Yilong had taken a brief look at them and concluded that the script he'd received that morning would not the the last.

Finally, the director called cut and said they should wrap for the day. Zhu Yilong sighed and let go of the role. He enjoyed the feeling of relief as he returned to being just himself. During those times he was always too tired to be self conscious and instead felt an immense feeling of calm. He enjoyed acting, but it was also exhausting. From what he gathered from talking to others in his profession, some actors truly could become their characters, so much so that it was like they had become another person and didn't need to really think about how that character would act. Instead they would just act and it would come out okay. Zhu Yilong was not like this. He could put on a character, yes, but he had to constantly be thinking and designing his next action, simulating in his head how he should stand, how he should tilt his head, how he should shift his weight. Everything he did was meticulously planned, which made everything he did extremely exhausting. But perhaps like an athlete chasing a runner's high, Zhu Yilong enjoyed the exertion and the difficulty.

The first day of pickups ended and Zhu Yilong was driven back to his apartment. It was nearly midnight by the time he collapsed into bed. As his mind drifted and he felt himself falling into slumber, he wondered if he'd dream again of that valley, of that little hut, of that person he wanted to see most in the world.

Zhu Yilong felt the ground beneath his feet and opened his eyes. Before him was endless empty space filled with rolling mist. The wind tugged at his long hair and at his black robes. In the waking world he would quietly admit he had some fear of heights, but here in the dream he felt completely calm as he stood at the edge of the cliff. He stepped off it.

Wind buffeted him as he fell and he twisted his body so that he appeared to be walking. Amazingly it was as though he really was walking in the air and he loped over to stand on the uppermost branches of a nearby tree. A few nights ago he'd gotten bored and decided on a whim to see if this dream character had any martial arts skills. It turned out the costume drama-like clothes weren't just for show and he was soon leaping through the air with the lightest of steps.

Zhu Yilong leapt off the tree and ping-ponged between the different trees to land quietly on the ground. Birds twittered invisibly in the branches of the trees and he could hear the gurgle of the river nearby. He walked toward the sound. When he reached the river, he crouched and let the water gush over a hand. For a dream, it was amazingly detailed and felt so real he was reminded of that story of the scholar who dream of being a butterfly. Which was the dream, which was reality? If both felt so real, how could one tell? He straightened, wiping his hand on his robes, then started along the river as he had each time before.

Before long, the misty silhouette of the hut and the plum tree out the front came into view and Zhu Yilong felt anticipation rising in his chest. He'd dreamt this sequence before and had reread this part of the story just that morning. He arrived at the tree and laid a hand on it. It was cold and slick to touch. He knew there was wine buried at the base of the tree but he chose to let it be for now, Shen San wouldn’t be coming for at least another day.

Zhu Yilong dropped down at the foot of the plum tree and sat with his back against the trunk, legs outstretched. A small plum petal felt onto his cheek but he didn’t brush it away. Instead he looked up at the dark branches cutting across the pale sky and let his eyes lose their focus. He was feeling pretty tired and he only realised he’d closed his eyes when a hand shook his shoulder and he found himself opening them.


	4. Bai Yu

“Long-ge?”

Bai Yu stared wide-eyed at the man in front of him and saw a look of recognition in his eyes. It really was Zhu Yilong. Bai Yu fell back to sit on the ground and laughed. Wow, what was this? Had he suddenly become a hormonal teenager again?

“Bai Yu, are you really dreaming this right now?”

Bai Yu stopped laughing and sat up properly. What? Was that something dream people often said?

“Yeah, of course I’m dreaming. I don’t see any cameras,” at this last line he grinned and gestured about. Zhu Yilong fixed him with a confused expression then rested his chin on a hand, pouting a little. A smiled played around Bai Yu’s lips. Dream Zhu Yilong was very real to life.

“Then we’ve ended up in the same dream.”

Bai Yu blinked and searched Zhu Yilong’s face for a hint of a smile that said he was joking. He didn’t find it. “Huh?”

Zhu Yilong folded his arms and leaned back against the trunk of the tree. “This is the first time I’ve come across you,” he said thoughtfully. “It’s always been Shen San I run into.”

Bai Yu sat up straight and pointed at Zhu Yilong. “You didn’t tell me! Who’s Shen San?”

Zhu Yilong raised an eyebrow and Bai Yu saw the beginnings of a playful smile around his eyes. “You haven’t read the story. I don’t want to spoil it.” Bai Yu pouted.

“I promise I’ll read it, just spoil it first so I’ve got some context for all this.” Again, Bai Yu gestured wildly at their surroundings and kicked Zhu Yilong’s outstretched foot with his own.

“It’s not that exciting. He’s just one of Kunlun’s later reincarnations.”

“Oh, you mean Zhao Yunlan’s.”

“It’s Kunlun. Zhao Yunlan comes later.”

“Yeah, but the story’s about Zhao Yunlan, not Kunlun.”

“Zhao Yunlan regains all his Kunlun memories by the end,” Zhu Yilong retorted, getting a little annoyed.

Bai Yu pulled his knees up and hugged them. “Zhenhun Nanshen!” Zhu Yilong rolled his eyes and Bai Yu reached forward to pat him on the shoulder. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I’ll stop teasing Long-ge.” Zhu Yilong pouted and turned away, but Bai Yu could feel his raised hackles go down.

They sat in silence for a little while. Bai Yu was just happy to be there in Zhu Yilong’s presence, as he thought Zhu Yilong would be in his were he really here. Bai Yu got up on his knees then crawled next to Zhu Yilong and sat so that their shoulders were touching. He stretched up then reached over an arm to clamp onto Zhu Yilong’s shoulders and pull him close.

“What are you doing?” Zhu Yilong asked. Bai Yu could hear the smile in his voice.

“I’m just thinking it’s nice I get to dream of you,” Bai Yu said lazily as he looked out at the mist. He felt Zhu Yilong rest his head on his shoulder.

“You’re not dreaming of me, you’re dreaming with me,” Zhu Yilong said in a soft voice. He took one of Bai Yu’s hands and began to play with his fingers. This action reminded Bai Yu of the nights they’d spent up in the mountains to shoot one of the story arcs in Guardian, so he was a little slow to react to Zhu Yilong’s words.

“Wait… are you really saying…?” Bai Yu’s voice trailed off. He turned and prodded Zhu Yilong’s head with his chin. Zhu Yilong shifted and looked up at him, a little annoyed. “Are you actually Zhu Yilong?”

Zhu Yilong pinched the back of Bai Yu’s hand in response. Bai Yu gasped in pain and pulled his hand away. He glared at his Ge, but Zhu Yilong only looked back smugly. “Of course I am,” he said. 

Bai Yu rubbed the back of his hand then gingerly gave it back to Zhu Yilong to play with. “Why’d you pinch me…? I don’t see what that’s got to do with you being…” Bai Yu gulped. The notion that this really was Zhu Yilong next to him had started to be properly processed in his brain. He felt his face go warm. That wasn’t possible. Was it?

“It hurt when I pinched you, right? That normally doesn’t happen in dreams, or if it does, it wakes you up.” Zhu Yilong shifted a little then put his head back on Bai Yu’s shoulder. Bai Yu accommodated him. “That shows this dream isn’t normal.”

“Normal or not, having a dream with another person’s just not possible.”

Zhu Yilong shrugged. “Maybe.”

Bai Yu glanced at Zhu Yilong then rested his cheek against the top of his head. “You’re very calm for someone who’s just stumbled upon a scientific impossibility.”

Zhu Yilong chuckled. “What scientific impossibility? I didn’t know you were a scientist on the side. Where do you get the time to do your research between shooting things? Give me some.”

Bai Yu clenched his hand and caught Zhu Yilong’s fingers in his palm. “How do you know I’m not shooting a drama right now where I’m a scientist?”

“Because you would have bragged about it to me already.” Bai Yu laughed at that, knowing it to be absolutely true.

“I’ve been having this dream every night for over a week,” Zhu Yilong said quietly. “The first few times, I just wandered about and got lost, then I met Shen San a few times. At first I acted out the storyline in the extra, then I tried to go against it, but when I did, things would change and suddenly I would be following along again.”

Bai Yu’s hand still held Zhu Yilong’s fingers and he rubbed his thumb along them thoughtfully. “I’ve had it a few times too, but it was only last night that I met Shen Wei.”

“That’s why you messaged me.”

“That’s why I messaged you.”

Zhu Yilong sat up and looked directly at Bai Yu. “Actually, I’m quite freaked out by this situation,” his expression completely neutral without a hint of fear. Bai Yu released Zhu Yilong’s fingers but Zhu Yilong immediately threaded their fingers together and held on. “I’m scared.”

Bai Yu used his free hand to cup Zhu Yilong’s cheek, using his thumb to trace along his eyebrow. “What are you scared of?” Originally Bai Yu had been the one panicking but as soon as he saw Zhu Yilong’s blank expression he knew his Ge was frightened too and the knowledge made him calm down immediately, his top priority now different.

Zhu Yilong bit his lip and looked down. “I don’t know,” he confessed. “Like you said, this should be impossible.”

Bai Yu nodded a few times then pulled Zhu Yilong into his arms and held him tight. “First thing to do should be to confirm whether what we think is happening is actually happening,” he murmured near Zhu Yilong’s ear.

Zhu Yilong nodded. “When we wake up, we should message each other and describe what happened from our own perspectives.”

“Catch any inconsistencies.”

“Yeah.” Zhu Yilong wriggled and got his arms around Bai Yu’s middle. “I don’t want to wake up just yet though,” he whispered. It felt to Bai Yu like someone had reached in and squeezed his heart. He smiled uncontrollably and kissed the top of Zhu Yilong’s head.

"There's no hurry. We've got all night long."

They sat there for an age in that warm embrace, hearts beating as one. Finally Zhu Yilong raised his head and Bai Yu loosened his grip. Zhu Yilong's face was less than an inch from his and he could feel his breath on his skin. There was a question in Zhu Yilong's eyes and Bai Yu smiled and answered gently by leaning forward and reducing the distance between their lips to zero.


	5. Zhu Yilong

Zhu Yilong woke up disoriented and half off the bed, nearly falling off entirely as he fumbled around. Now safely back on the bed he sat still for a good minute and waited for his breathing to return to normal. It hadn't just been because he'd nearly fallen off the bed, rather his rapid breathing and racing pulse were more a byproduct of the dream he'd just awakened from. He rubbed his face then decided he needed to splash some cold water on his face to get his mind on track again.

Face dripping, he walked back to his bed and dropped heavily onto it, burying his face in his pillow. There were wet dreams, then there was what had just happened.

Zhu Yilong propped himself up on his elbows and reached for his phone. He opened its note taking application and began to write. The mountain, the trees, the river, the hut. Then he decided he really should get out of bed first before continuing.

He was almost done writing his account while neglecting the breakfast in front of him, when his phone rang. Startled, he dropped it and took him a few moments to answer. It turned out to be his assistant calling to make sure he was up early enough to make it to the studio lot in time for hair and make-up and to tell him there was a new script. Zhu Yilong was good at temporarily compartmentalising things so he got through the phone call without much trouble. He was about to say goodbye when a thought struck him.

"Have you ever heard of people being able to dream together?"

His assistant was silent for a few seconds before saying, "... I think there was a movie about something like that. There were dreams inside dreams or something."

"Ah, right." Zhu Yilong remembered that movie and thought it best to drop the topic. His assistant reminded him when the pick up time was then rung off. Zhu Yilong flopped in the chair, sliding down a little. He stared at his untouched breakfast.

In the end the breakfast remained untouched and the account remained unfinished. Zhu Yilong hurriedly shoved the plate into the fridge and saved the note then pulled on a few more layers of clothes before heading out. He messaged his assistant that he'd make his own way to the studio lot that day. It was stupid and reckless but he really needed to be alone and in the cold right now. Cap and mask on, he turned off the heater and lights and headed out.

The morning air was crisp beyond words and the icey dew on the concrete crunched underfoot. Zhu Yilong’s assistant was throwing a fit, but the man himself stood resolute and said he’d be fine. He’d avoid crowded areas and not call attention to himself. His assistant had fired back that his very existence at this point was attention grabbing but had had to relent in the end. While Zhu Yilong was usually a wellbehaved, no-drama kind of person, the flipside was that he could be incredibly stubborn about certain things.

Zhu Yilong leaned against the metal railings that lined the river and looked down at the murky water. The sun was behind him and the light glinting off the water was a little blinding. Zhu Yilong nestled his chin on his arms, wriggling his chin out of the mask so that he could bite at his nail. The wind was cold and blew right through him but all his attention was on the phone burning a hole in his pocket. He hadn’t missed that Bai Yu hadn’t sent him any messages that morning. He had initially wanted to send his account of the dream immediately, but after this distraction and that distraction, he’d ended up not finishing it. But since Bai Yu had said nothing… Had he really just dreamed everything up? He had been so sure earlier but now… His mind drifted back to the latter part of the dream and he felt himself flush despite the cold.

He knawed harder on his thumb. In general, he tried not to give the stylists a hard time by biting his nails so much but sometimes one just needed that relief. Perhaps a smoke would be better.

Zhu Yilong didn't shift from his position on the railing, his thumb remained between his teeth and the box of cigarettes remained in his pocket. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something white flash past and he turned his head to see a white bird land on the water. A few moments later, another white bird joined it. It knocked heads with the first, then nibbled intimately at the base of it's neck. The thumb dropped from Zhu Yilong's mouth but his eyes never left the two birds. When a boat came down the river, the two were momentarily separated in either sides of it, but as soon as it passed, they quickly swam back together. Which was the male, which was the female, it was impossible for Zhu Yilong's untrained eyes to tell. Like two hares running at a distance, they looked exactly the same. As he watched them swim this way and that, looking for all the world like they were whispering sweet nothings in each others ears, a small thought floated up in his mind: did one have to be male and one have to be female? Couldn't they both be female, or perhaps... Couldn't they both be male? Zhu Yilong let his eyes unfocus and the birds became white smudges against dark green. A strange feeling welled up from his stomach and filled his chest. Suddenly, the birds took off in a flurry of spray and Zhu Yilong watched them become invisible specks over the distant buildings. Then, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.

It only took a minute or two and he had finished writing his account of the night before, minus the later bits of course. He copied the text then opened WeChat. His finger hesitated over Bai Yu's name but with a kind of resolve he'd never felt before, he pressed down on that gentle, tempestuous name and quickly pasted the text. Without waiting a beat, he tapped send and shoved his phone back into his jacket. Then, pulling his mask back on, he set out to the studio lot.

That day's scenes were more intense than yesterday's and the makeup team needed more time to apply all the blood and bruises. Action scenes were difficult, especially when done one after another, but that was also what Zhu Yilong liked about them. But this time his focus in each scene was more than him chasing after that feeling of flow. It was also to distract him from that itch at the back of his mind that nagged at him to check his phone.

Finally the director called for a break and Zhu Yilong sat down heavily on the ground. They had been shooting a scene where he had to sprint down a corridor then leap over a fence all in one take. It was a big sequence and one that had been only thought up while they were editing. Of all the major changes that he'd seen so far, this one was by far the weirdest. His character was a mild-mannered desk clerk at a bank, not an action movie protagonist.

Zhu Yilong spaced out and his assistant came up to him quietly and gave him his phone. Immediately Zhu Yilong felt energised and he took the phone with shaking fingers. He thanked his assistant then found a quiet corner. The screen only displayed that he had messages from someone but not who from or what the messages were. He'd had the foresight earlier to set those to private so not just anyone could see what was said. He breathed deeply, bit his lip, then unlocked his phone. He was greeted by a flurry of animated stickers, some with surprised expressions, some with smug expressions, but all were extremely excited. He scrolled down and finally found Bai Yu's write up of the night's escapades.

[Started out in a field of grass. Had a horse. We walked back to the valley. There was a river in the valley and a funny old hut. There was also a plum tree and a Long-ge sitting by it. I got to kiss him then do naughty things with him.]

Then came a few blushing stickers. Zhu Yilong felt he must be even redder. He locked his phone and held it to his chest as he stood facing the corner, head pressed against the intersection of the two walls. Bai Yu's version was infinitely shorter than his yet had elicited a far bigger reaction from him. Zhu Yilong weakly unlocked his phone again and stared at his own list of stickers wondering which to use while grinning stupidly. In the end, he didn't manage to pick one before the break was up and sent a simple smiley face instead. He was about to set his phone down when it buzzed. He looked at the screen and saw Bai Yu had already replied: I want nighttime to come faster!

Zhu Yilong bit down on his lower lip to stifle the smile and quickly tapped back a response.

[Me too.]


	6. Bai Yu

Bai Yu woke up the next morning extremely buzzed and went immediately to the shower to cool off. He spent a long time under the water dealing with things and thinking. Or rather, trying to make himself think. His mind was in such a jumble it was a miracle he could even function. A good amount of time later he emerged physically more settled but emotionally and mentally still a mess.

When the shooting of Guardian had finally wrapped and all their goodbyes had been said, Bai Yu had made a conscious effort to put Zhu Yilong behind him. Still treasure him as a good friend, still chat incessantly to him about nothing of importance, still tease him as much as possible, but not let what was in his heart get out. They had kissed, yes, made-out a bit, yes, but it was just a temporary situation. Once shooting ended, they'd go their separate ways. However he knew he couldn't force himself to stop caring in the way he did so instead he endeavoured to ice the whole thing and let it fall off of him like a frostbitten limb. This wasn't the first time he'd had to deal with an unwanted crush and for a while, he had thought it he had dealt with it successfully. But then the drama had had a date set for airing and he and Zhu Yilong had been called in to do interviews together and it was like all those months hadn't happened at all. Bai Yu's heart completely melted and he fell even harder for his Ge, though he never admitted this to himself. Then, against all expectations, the drama had become an instant hit despite all the issues that had plagued it's production from funding to story issues.

Of course Bai Yu was very happy at the show's unexpected success and was glad everyone's hard work was being rewarded, but this sudden fame put him in an uncomfortable position of being overly scrutinised. By now he had figured out how to deal with it, how to maintain the walls around him so that he was not crushed under the pressure, but at the time he had dearly needed someone to help him weather the storm. Zhu Yilong had been that lifeline and though other people in Bai Yu's life had helped him immensely, it was that other man who had acted as his ever steady lighthouse as he tried to sail through the storm. From then on Bai Yu had realised that Zhu Yilong would always have a permanent place in his heart so he gave up trying to excise that part away. That said, he never tried taking a step forward, so to speak, and instead casually dated a few girls. He hadn't seeked out these relationships, they'd just kind of happened naturally, but they also seemed to come to nothing just as easily. He did his best to treat them well, but it was clear to all parties involved that a part of his heart was owned by someone else. There was never a fight or even raised voices, just a quiet sigh and a soft "we should probably just end this". Each time they parted amicably.

Bai Yu pottered about the kitchen, surveying his kingdom, deciding he had too few subjects and would need to go buy groceries. Or perhaps more precisely, he needed to do something to distract himself. The project that had just ended had been a long and arduous one but he almost wished now that it was still going on.

He hadn't touched WeChat that morning nor had he tried drafting anything describing the dream last night. Of course he had checked his notifications incessantly as he moped about getting rugged up and ready to head out, but the one message he had been hoping for hadn't come. Of course, he could have simply written to Long-ge himself to feel out the situation, but to put it simply, he was too scared. No, he was petrified. Even trying to look at himself objectively to figure out why he was so frightened was beyond him at the moment, so he decided that endless distractions was the best course of action.

The supermarket was oddly crowded that morning but Bai Yu wasn't too worried about being recognised. He planned to use the self service machines and he dressed like a daggy old uncle anyway. What sometimes had gotten him in trouble in the past was if he had to speak a lot. He didn't think so but it seemed his voice was quite unique in this regard. Unfortunately that had ruled out the wet markets and open air markets, hence today's deployment to the supermarket.

Bank account a little depleted and bags very heavy, Bai Yu left the supermarket in high spirits. Yes, it was true that Zhu Yilong still hadn't said anything that morning but it was also an undeniable fact that his favourite brand of packaged noodles were half off. It was the thought of these starchy locks that kept Bai Yu sane as he tromped back home, desperately trying to keep himself from thinking about someone else's locks who he'd run his fingers through the night before.

He arrived home, took everything out of the bags, piled all the things onto the kitchen counter, stuffed the bags away, vaguely sorted things into their probable places of normal residence, opened a packet of noodles, dunked the hard stuff into a pot, filled the pot with water and set it to boil on the stove. Bai Yu crossed his arms and stared at the pot, daring it to not boil under his watch. His foot tapped impatiently and he started to hum a slightly frantic tune under his breath. Then he realised what he could be doing to take his mind off of things.

Feeling proud of his ingenuity, Bai Yu retrieved his phone from his bag, yes he'd forgotten to unpack it, and booted up the live streaming app. He didn't have to wait long before he was able to show many rooms worth of people his skills in the kitchen. He strained the noodles and set them aside and dunked some smallish veggies into the pot, then decided they should be fried instead so he switched methodologies. As he did so, however, he started to hum that same tune again. Earlier he hadn't paid attention to what it was or even if it was from an actual song, but looking at the chat he realised what it was. The chat flew past at lightning quick pace but he had been able to catch it what everyone was screaming: Flying Through Time!

Bai Yu stopped humming and chuckled to himself. Even when he was putting in his most sincere efforts to distract himself from that person, he still ended up wandering ever closer. Bai Yu ended up singing the whole song as requested by the chat, voice breaking a little trying to hit the high notes of Zhu Yilong’s sections, as he dished out his noodles and everyone was very pleased. He was touched that so many people all these years later still cared about the show.

The entertainment industry was a place that was all about speed. Within a month of airing, the majority of shows were forgotten, never to surface again. Unless of course they could be mined for clips to use in derivative, fan created videos. Bai Yu had watched a good number of such videos where a character he had played in a drama had been paired up with one of Zhu Yilong's from a totally separate drama. He had been genuinely impressed at their skillfulness at being able to piece together such coherent stories and take audio clips from one place and splice them with other clips, not to mention the straight up near professional VFX level computer edits that superimposed their characters together. He had sent a few to Zhu Yilong who had been equal parts impressed and embarrassed, so naturally Bai Yu had sent him a few of the more risque ones. To those he had received no reply.

Which in a roundabout way reminded him of that fifth extra and that mysterious Shen San. As he ate and chatted over the livestream, he found himself seriously considering asking the chat where he could find this extra. Fortunately however, his brain was not completely offline and he restrained himself. What kind of a stampede would he end up triggering if he asked something like that? The various Super Topics on Weibo already went crazy when some thing he and Zhu Yilong did happened to coincide with one another, what would happen if he showed interest in the probably spicy fifth extra?

As to how he knew about the vibrancy of this corner of the internet, it probably doesn't come as a surprise to know that he sometimes, as a way to kill time, dredges through the relevant tags and Super Topics to find things to annoy Long-ge with. In retrospect, it seems rather obvious why those ex-girlfriends knew they were sharing him with someone else.

Bai Yu finished his noodles and pushed the bowl aside. He answered a few last questioned then thanked everyone for coming before signing off. He sighed deeply. While streaming was a kind of performance and performing undoubtedly produced it's own kind of stress, he found that it also had a way of quieting his mind. Perhaps it was the adrenaline and required single-minded focus that calmed him. Regardless it had been the right call. Perhaps now he could take a look at that script his assistant had been waxing lyrical about all of yesterday at the airport.

Bai Yu glanced at the time on his phone then became immediately distracted by the chat notification icon to the left. He quickly swiped down. It was Zhu Yilong. He tapped it, heart in his throat, all calm completely evaporated. Then his eyebrows went up as Zhu Yilong's message filled the screen. He scrolled down. The giant wall of text kept going. Bai Yu stared at his phone for a few moments, face totally blank, then burst out laughing. This was undoubtedly his Long-ge, fastidious to a fault. He swiped back up to the top and began to attentively read.

All up, he read the whole novella twice, the first time he had more or less just ran his eyes over the words without comprehending what they meant. Overall however he understood the main point: Zhu Yilong had also had the same dream, no, he had dreamed with Zhu Yilong. He bounced up and down on the bed, nearly dropping his phone. Then a thought struck him: this could all still a be a coincidence. Theoretically, thought Scientist Bai, it should be within the realm of possibility for this level of serendipity to occur, right? That sobered him up and he held his phone in both hands as he read Zhu Yilong’s account a second time. No, no, he was right the first time. There was no way this could be a coincidence. What had happened had really happened.

Bai Yu shakily set his phone down on the table and sat on the floor next to his bed hugging his knees. It had really happened. After all this time, Zhu Yilong still… Bai Yu couldn’t finish the thought. One reason was, he didn’t know how it ended and the other reason was because he had been hit with such a large wave of happiness that he’d fallen onto his side. He found himself looking under his table and he grinned at all the dust and debris that had taken up residence there. Even the dust-bunnies looked cute.

“Ahhhhh…” Bai Yu rolled around on the ground, still clutching his knees. After he had finished quietly yelling his lungs out, it suddenly occurred to him that he hadn’t replied. He sprung up instantly and became momentarily lightheaded. The pains of old age. He steadied himself against the table then once the dizziness had subsided he resumed his feverish efforts to retrieve his phone. Never before had he so deeply appreciated the ability to use animated images to express how he felt. A few moments and many stickers later Bai Yu finally calmed down enough to join words together so he started to write his version of events. And then finished writing because he had overestimated his compositional abilities at present, not to mention that his mind was still too far down the gutter. He sent off those few sentences then went back to being a human-sized rock on the floor.

From his vantage point on the ground the build up of dust under his desk was a little disturbing. He could just about see the skyline of a city. Perhaps he should clean it. He turned then noticed that there was an entire metropolis under his bed. He turned the volume of his phone all the way up then went to look for a broom, while all the time humming Flying Through Time.


	7. Zhu Yilong

“I think we need to do further testing.” Zhu Yilong lightly kicked Bai Yu’s foot. “Hey, did you hear me?” Zhu Yilong was standing cross armed and looking thoughtful while Bai Yu was sitting on the ground looking a little bored.

They were standing on the edge of one of the many cliffs that overlooked their little valley. It was snowing that day but they’d found some heavier cloaks in the hut and were now wrapped up warmly in them. Bai Yu had wanted to forgo the extra clothes, saying they were heavy and awkward, but Zhu Yilong had insisted. By the time they’d reached the cliff, however, Bai Yu had fallen silent about this matter and Zhu Yilong could see his cheeks were flushed pink with the cold.

Zhu Yilong crouched down next to Bai Yu and prodded him with a finger. Bai Yu nimbly ducked and caught that finger between his teeth. Shocked, Zhu Yilong sucked in a breath and nearly fell sideways but was caught by Bai Yu who firmly embraced him.

“I heard you, I heard you,” Zhu Yilong heard him say into the warm furs around his neck. “I was just thinking.”

Bai Yu's embrace was warm and comforting so Zhu Yilong quickly lost his composure and leaned in, resting his cheek against Bai Yu's head. He had long hair in the dream, which was nice in its own way, but Zhu Yilong still preferred Bai Yu's short hair when it was soft and fluffy. It had been years since he'd seen his friend face-to-face let alone touched his hair so he appreciated the moment and closed his eyes.

"I think we should try burying something and seeing if it's still there the next time," came a muffled voice near Zhu Yilong's neck. Zhu Yilong nodded.

"It's an good idea. I tried it once before."

"How did it go?" Bai Yu asked, lifting his head to look at Zhu Yilong. "What else have you tried?"

Suddenly losing the soft warm under his cheek, Zhu Yilong almost raised a hand to yank Bai Yu's head under his chin again. Instead he looked away to hide his pout. "The pot I buried disappeared from where I buried it and appeared back in the hut. But the weather was always the same back then too."

"Like a time loop!" Bai Yu sat up straight and Zhu Yilong suddenly felt there was a small hyperactive dog sitting next to him. "So since the weather's changing now, like this snow, maybe the pot will stay in the hole!" He turned and looked at Zhu Yilong, his nose almost touching Zhu Yilong's. "But what were you trying to test with the pot?"

Zhu Yilong was momentarily distracted by the glittering eyes and red lips before him. Finally he glanced away. "What did you say?"

Bai Yu chuckled naughtily and snuggled up under Zhu Yilong's chin again. "Long-ge, you're so easily distracted! Have you not been sleeping well?"

"Go away," Zhu Yilong replied, bumping Bai Yu's shoulder to express his displeasure, though they both knew he really felt quite differently. 

Bai Yu smiled, genuinely this time, and got up. He offered Zhu Yilong a hand. "I asked what were you testing by burying the pot." Zhu Yilong took his hand and let himself be pulled up.

"I wanted to see if I could affect the dream permanently. Make small changes early on to effect bigger things later on." Standing, he brushed the snow off his cloak then raised a hand to flick a few white flakes off of Bai Yu's shoulder. "I tried changing things directly but it doesn't work."

Bai Yu nodded thoughtfully. "What did you want to change?"

Zhu Yilong didn't know how to answer at first, so took a few steps back the way they'd come. "Some things happen later in the story. I wanted to change them." After that he pursed his lips and fell silent. Bai Yu fell into step alongside him and didn't ask him to clarify. Apparently his expression was explanation enough.

They walked in silence through the dark trees, the crunch of their footsteps swallowed by the snow. It was late afternoon and the birds had started to gather for their twilight congregations. Suddenly Zhu Yilong stopped. "Have you..." He started to say.

"Mm?" Bai Yu turned. "Have I what?"

Instead of answering, Zhu Yilong abruptly stepped quickly toward a tree then launched himself up it, lightly stepping on the different branches to propel himself upward. Once he was a up about two storeys high, he stopped and perched on one of the thicker branches. "Can you do that?" He asked, before realising the display looked more like he was trying to show off than genuinely asking a question, then added, "I mean, have you tried doing qinggong or anything like that?"

Bai Yu's expression could accurately be described as 'stunned beyond all belief'. He blinked a few times, mouth hanging open, then shook his head.

"Oh..." Zhu Yilong dropped down from the tree and tried to hide his disappointment.

"H-how did you learn how to do that?" Bai Yu finally asked.

Zhu Yilong shook his head. "I didn't. I could already do it from the beginning."

"The beginning?"

"I mean, the first time I dreamed of this place. When I tried I could already do it. I guess this body already had the skills."

"Shen Wei is very overpowered. Can you...," Bai Yu mimed drawing a sword and slashing it around.

Zhu Yilong smiled at the impression. "No, I mean, I probably could, but I don't know how he does it so I can't."

"Ohh..." Bai Yu nodded, his mouth in the same of a 'O'. A moment passed. "You think I could do that? The treetop flying?" He started to bounce up and down as he fastened his gaze onto Zhu Yilong as though the other's could somehow determine whether he could or not.

"Maybe. You should try. Shen San has some abilities."

"Alright!" Bai Yu pushed up his sleeves and rubbed his hands together. "Okay, how do I do this?"

Zhu Yilong cocked his head to one side and said, "You could jump off a cliff. It's what I did." Bai Yu stated at him. Zhu Yilong was surprised to see the worry in Bai Yu's eyes. "It's just a dream, it's okay. If you die here you just wake up, it's not a big deal." Bai Yu still didn't look convinced so Zhu Yilong put a hand on his shoulder and shook it a little. "Really." He didn't want to explain what had led up to that point but he also didn't want to lie about it.

In his waking life, Zhu Yilong was relatively happy and content, but when certain events had occurred in the dream, he had been completely overwhelmed. Even the first time he had had to watch Shen San die he had known it was going to happen but that knowledge did nothing to stop the serrated blades from messily slashing up his heart, to stop him from sinking deeper and deeper into despair, to stop him from hurling himself off a cliff to try to make the pain go away. He had had to watch his most beloved slowly die, with the full knowledge that he was to blame. Zhu Yilong knew that it was Shen Wei who held that heavy burden, not himself, but he just couldn't extricate himself from those feelings. Especially not when Shen San looked exactly the same as Bai Yu.

“Come on-”

“No.” Zhu Yilong glanced up in surprise at Bai Yu. Bai Yu grinned at him, but Zhu Yilong could still see that worry in his eyes. “Let’s try it some other time,” Bai Yu said. “I want to walk around more first!” He grabbed Zhu Yilong’s sleeve and began to pull him in the opposite direction from which they’d come.

“You could explore faster if you could use qinggong, you know,” Zhu Yilong said. He was a step or so behind Bai Yu and so couldn’t see his face.

“Later later. Why the hurry? Besides, I don’t want to risk waking up just yet!”

Zhu Yilong stared at Bai Yu’s back and was glad Bai Yu couldn’t see his expression. He pulled his sleeve out from Bai Yu’s grasp, making his friend turn round and look at him inquisitively. Zhu Yilong held out his hand. “Give me your hand.”

Bai Yu immediately obeyed. Goal achieved, Zhu Yilong pulled Bai Yu forward and continued walking. He felt a tug and found Bai Yu now walking shoulder-to-shoulder with him with an inquisitive look on his face.

“What?”

“What did you want my hand for?”

Zhu Yilong glanced down at their intertwined fingers and put on what he hoped was a neutral expression. “I just wanted to hold your hand. Anything wrong with that?” He glanced up at Bai Yu but he didn’t get much of a look before Bai Yu’s face filled his vision. The kiss was surprisingly forceful and Zhu Yilong vaguely felt his back press up against something, but he was too busy to worry about that. Eyes closed, he reached out and pulled Bai Yu hard up against him. Bai Yu’s hands brushed up his arms, shoulders, then caressed his face before deepening the kiss.

Snow fell softly around them, tangling in amongst their exploring hands, barely felt against exposed skin. The sounds of their gasps and moans were lost in that sparkling white place as the icicles caught the glimmering light of the setting sun. Soon those layers of clothes Zhu Yilong had so insisted they wear were cast aside, all thought of the cold forgotten. They were together and together they burned fiery hot, like the scorching surface of a star.


	8. Bai Yu

Bai Yu woke in an excellent mood. He was generally a fun-loving, jolly person, but he was especially happy this morning. All attempts his assistant made at digging up the truth were thoroughly evaded, but his assistant still took advantage of the boss’s mood and floated an idea from a while back. Which was how Bai Yu now found himself bumping about in the back of a car, trying to read a draft script while also trying not to get sick.

They were out in the middle of nowhere. His assistant had said his old uni-mate had had to rent a warehouse way out to offset the rental costs but this was a little much. Bai Yu, feeling a little ill, looked out the window and was spoilt for choice for horizon to look at.

There were mountains in the distance but all that was close by was dusty ground. There was a glimmer in the distance and Bai Yu squinted. It looked like a group of buildings. Warehouses? God, please let this be the place. Not only was his stomach protesting, his bladder was beginning to mount a military coup. He slapped a hand in his assistant's direction and caught him on the shoulder.

"Ey ey ey, Xiao-Tian, is that the..."

His assistant looked up from his phone and leaned over Bai Yu to see out the window. He looked down at his phone and Bai Yu spied a map on the screen. "Should be..."

A few minutes later they pulled into a space that was a parking lot in name only, and got out. Well, Bai Yu's assistant got out while Bai Yu rolled out and was quickly directed to the nearest restroom. Xiao-Tian knew him well and had called ahead to learn the whereabouts of this crucial location.

Now much relieved, Bai Yu finally met with his assistant's friend from university who he'd heard so much about. Xiao-Tian actually had no prior experience in the kind of work he had now. He had studied computer science and had stumbled into the film department and accidentally made friends there. Despite their differing majors, the group of friends had been able to bond over a shared love of cutting edge technology and this project Bai Yu was getting a sneak preview of was one such experiment on the cutting edge.

Xiao-Tian made the introductions and soon Bai Yu was chatting along with everyone like they were all old pals. Bai Yu has a charismatic aura that seemed to always bring out the best in people and was one reason people liked to work with him. Whether the project went well or not, if Bai Yu was involved, you knew things would be fun. As they led him through the rabbit warren backstage, they talked nonstop about the technical aspects of their setup and he listened with great interest. While his career to this point had been all in front of the camera, he was fascinated by what went on behind and, especially, in it.

They arrived at the entrance to the soundstage and Bai Yu went in then immediately gasped. For a moment he thought he'd walked outside. Around the far side of the room was the sight of a slowly setting sun over a desert. He walked closer then realised it wasn't a desert at all but merely an image on a large screen that wrapped around half the room. Before it on the ground was a raised platform that had been covered with fake rocks and prickly vegetation which matched the desert setting.

"Wow!"

"Right? Look up. That screen up there is powerful enough to accurately light up pretty much any scene."

Bai Yu looked up and saw there was a large, circular screen secured to the ceiling. "No, really?"

"Really!" Xiao-Tian's friend replied. "Come look at the monitor here." He walked to a complicated looking setup in the middle of the room and Bai Yu followed behind obediently. "We saw how they were doing things on that new TV show in the US and we thought we'd try and adapt it and see if we could do it cheaper. You know, make it more accessible to more filmmakers. Indies, you know."

Bai Yu nodded enthusiastically. The technician that was helming the setup pointed at the largest screen. "See this?" She said. "That's a 3D mockup of the set we have here and I can use it to directly change what's on the screens as well as the lighting." As she spoke, she furiously clicked and Bai Yu watched with fascination as the large curved screen around the room flickered and became a jungle then a city then back to the desert again. "We've mostly just been working on the desert planet though," the technician admitted as she made this last change. Bai Yu glanced at his assistant and he nodded back. That script he'd been reading had been for a short indie film on a distant alien planet.

Xiao-Tian's friend clapped him on the shoulder. "What do you think?"

Bai Yu searched for the words but found himself lacking. If what he understood of all this was correct then... This could be the next Holy Grail of filmmaking. Special effects had been around since the very dawn of cinema to the point where you could say that film itself was a special effect. Early on, while the enthusiasm had been there, the tricks and technology limited filmmakers to only very crude effects that could be seen through by a child today. But quickly people had developed new ways of doing things, clever ways of superimposing hyperealistic paintings over footage to allow for fantastical settings. Then as computers had become part of everyday life, techniques had been developed to use the processing power of these new beasts of burden to remove and overlay different images or pieces of footage over one another. Or even generate those images completely from scratch. Of course, the early attempts at this technology had produced unnatural and strange results but before long, totally computer generated scenes were making their way onto to silver screen. It seemed like the possibilities were endless, like the only thing holding a filmmaker back was the limits of their own imagination. But of course, that wasn't entirely the case. This new technology had major flaws. Naturally, one of those was the financial cost of it, but that would naturally go down in time as the hardware improved, no, what the main issue was how it worked in the first place.

In order to film, say, an actor then paste them into a computer generated scene, they first had to be filmed in a way that allowed for them to be 'cut out' from their surroundings. That had been the first breakthrough. It worked by covering the environment around the actor in a dramatically different colour then using that colour as a reference as to what to remove in each frame and while it had been pioneered before computers, the speed at which a computerised brain could work made it much more viable for larger scenes. This led to soundstages to be painted completely blue, then later a bright green, for easier 'keying'. But while this meant more visual impossibilities could be brought to the screen, it now meant that actors had to completely imagine their surroundings as well, had to imagine that this green box was not really a green box but the hand of a giant ape of a leg of a robot. It had been a hard transition to make though some actors said they liked the purity it instilled in their performance. But they were in the minority. Filmmakers and audiences came to rebel against what was seen as superficial and fake, and there came a drive to shoot everything on location, at prohibitively high prices of course. Now suddenly, those productions that used real sets, real props, real locations were deemed more worthy of praise, while those that used CGI were lazy and cheap.

Bai Yu, for his part, was apathetic. A good story was a good story was a good story. But he could see both sides of the argument. Now, however, it seemed like maybe that long-standing argument could be finally laid to rest. Using this new technique, the computer generated environment for the scene could be displayed on the curved screen while the actors could work their magic on custom made sets, no longer having to work their imaginations to the limit. It brought many of the benefits of working on location and combined them with the benefits of working on a soundstage, like having a controlled environment for sound recording or having cheaper housing and travel related costs for the cast and crew.

"It's incredible," Bai Yu finally said. He hadn't had the time to watch the show where this technique had been pioneered so he had been completely blown away. No, even if he had seen it he still would have been amazed. "So you're going to shoot that alien planet short here? That script you sent over to Xiao-Tian," he asked, gesturing to the stage.

"You read it!” He seemed genuinely surprised and Bai Yu was suddenly reminded of himself in those early years trying to cling to any job that happened to somewhat come his way, regardless of pay or even credit.

Bai Yu grinned. “Xiao-Tian’s been trying to get me to read it for ages!” he said. “But I’m only halfway through.” He brought a hand up in an apologetic gesture.

“No no! I just wasn’t expecting it. You’re such a successful actor, I didn’t think you, uhh, would have the time!”

“Aiya, don’t say that! I’m still just a small potato.” Bai Yu waved an arm at the set. “Tell me more about all this!”

In reality, this short film was planned as more of a proof-of-concept than an actual film. The idea was to show off the technology to people within the industry and show what it was capable of. As it was an imitation of an existing set-up, they had to work even harder to show that their version could stand up to scrutiny and wasn’t just a slack rip-off to make money. Which was where Bai Yu came in.

That morning, and in the ride over, Xiao-Tian had point-blank told Bai Yu that while the team had intentions to ask him to become a producer on the project he didn’t need to agree to anything today. This had been one reason he’d dragged his feet in reading the script. He liked to make people happy, but he’d also learned over the years that making people at the cost of his own happiness wasn’t a good idea in the long run and he wasn’t sure how well he’d go in the role of producer in such a project.

“So are you also making your own changes to the system?”

Xiao-Tian’s friend nodded enthusiastically. “Part of our plan to make our system more cost effective is to see if we can make it modular, you know, so it can he installed in different places and at different sizes.”

At that moment, one of the crew members bustled over and whispered quickly in the ear of Xiao-Tian’s friend. It seemed like there was an issue somewhere that had to be dealt with asap, so they said a hasty farewell.

Bai Yu and Xiao-Tian turned to go and Xiao-Tian asked Bai Yu in a low voice what he thought of all this. Bai Yu didn’t skimp in his praise and openly admitted he was very interested in the whole thing. Xiao-Tian’s face brightened and he began to outline the areas where the project would benefit from Bai Yu’s involvement. They reached the door when Bai Yu suddenly stopped.

“Do you think…” he started. He bit his lip, a mischevious look in his eye. “Do you think I can go up there for a second?”

“Uhh…” Xiao-Tian looked at where Bai Yu was looking and also started to look a little naughty. “Probably,” he said. He looked around. “Go go go, no one’s looking now.” This was why Bai Yu liked working with Xiao-Tian. Where other assistants would have flatout refused, citing a whole list of possible pitfalls, Xiao-Tian didn’t see the issue and instead tried to figure out how to make it work.

Bai Yu quickly kicked off his shoes and gingerly stepped up onto the fake rocks just in his socks. From the ground the stage had seemed small but now that he was on it, he saw that the curve of the screen had been deceptive and the space was actually quite large. He strolled around, making sure to keep only the set in his field of vision. The effect was startling. Even though he knew exactly where he was, it still felt like he had suddenly traveled to some desert planet. The screens were so high resolution that he still couldn’t see the pixels when he was just a foot away.

Behind him he heard some noise but his mind was else where. On the screen, the sun had finished setting and the starts had started to blink to life. He looked directly up and saw that the screen on the ceiling had an even better shot of the sky. He didn’t know much about stars or astronomy but he’d always felt a kind of calm kinship with the nightsky. Perhaps it was just because of his name, but there was a nudge at the back of his mind that said it was something more.

There was a flash on the screen above and a shooting star streaked across it. In that moment, Bai Yu completely forgot that this wasn’t reality and instinctively made a wish. He had tried all day to keep his thoughts of Zhu Yilong to a minimum, to give the people around him the attention and respect they deserved, but in that moment, his mind was filled with his Ge.

I want to stay with him forever, he wished quietly in his heart.

Then he collasped on the ground.


	9. Zhu Yilong

Zhu Yilong had finished three cigarettes and was well into his fourth by the time he found someone who could answer his question. He was crouched on the ground like some hoodlum, warm phone pressed against his ear, cigarette butts scattered at his feet. He smoked regularly but not like this. It had been less than an hour since he asked for his scenes to be moved till later in the day so he could make a personal call. He sometimes asked if scenes, especially intimate ones, could be moved later in the schedule for when he was better acquainted with his colleagues, but never had he requested such because of a personal reason.

But that’s exactly what he’d done before finding this secluded spot between warehouses to get to work in. At some point a few people from another production congregated at the opposite end of the alleyway for a smoke but Zhu Yilong was too wrapped up in what he was doing to notice. At his feet he had a notebook and it was in this that he was scrawling a strong of numbers onto as the person on the other end of the line read them out to him. He repeated them back, confirmed he’d gotten them down correctly, then thanked them then hung up. It had taken him half an hour of calling around to finally get the phone number of Bai Yu's assistant. The first half hour he had dedicated to writing himself a script of what to say during the call as well as follow up questions and responses in case of various scenarios. He knew most adults didn’t need such aides for something as simple as a phone call and he was usually embarrassed at his own need, but at this point, he didn’t care. Something had happened to Bai Yu and he needed to know what.

The first night, Zhu Yilong had been disappointed that Bai Yu hadn’t turned up, but he figured that maybe that’s just how things were when you dreamt with someone else, like trying to videocall with someone with a spotty WIFI connection. Then the next night had come, then the next, and there was still no Bai Yu. The next night, he’d had a lucid dream in a completely different setting. His appearance had changed, though he still seemed to be Shen Wei, and had it been under other circumstances he would have spent a good amount of time investigating what this new dream was about. But there was no Bai Yu so he had no patience for it.

Finally he had concluded that something must have happened to Bai Yu in real life. It wasn’t uncommon for them to go months without a single message between them when things got busy, but not only was Bai Yu between projects and Zhu Yilong only doing pickups, but they’d been ‘carrying on’ all night for multiple nights. Up to this moment of radio silence, they’d been exchanging messages throughout each day, chatting about nothing in particular while also playfully testing the boundaries of impropriety. Then Bai Yu had stopped replying. Like with the dreams, Zhu Yilong had been saddened but not worried. They were both adults, sometimes life got in the way.

Then he thought, what if something bad had happened to Bai Yu? He wasn’t a family member or an openly close friend, would Bai Yu’s studio even think of informing him? To all the world, he was merely a fellow colleague in the same industry who had worked with Bai Yu once. If something had happened, it was likely he would only find out when the rest of the world did.

I am just another stranger in his life.

Fortunately, Zhu Yilong had been filming at the time so the constant attention needed to conduct his work had distracted him from the full brunt of the pain of that statement. But when the filming for the day had wrapped up and he had set out to return home, it had utterly crushed him. He sat on the floor of his living room with the lights off, eyes fixed on his phone. He checked both Bai Yu’s personal and work Weibo, but nothing had been posted for the past week. After some technological floundering, he’d found his way to Bai Yu’s WeChat Moments but saw nothing had been posted there.

Perhaps he could just wait it out, perhaps it was nothing, but each time he could no longer find Bai Yu in the dream, his resolve to find out what had happened grew stronger. And thus the current situation.

Zhu Yilong brainstormed various pretexts the night before. He decided in the end to make up a project he had been asked to pass along to Bai Yu. It was a pretty weak reason and it didn't make much sense for one actor to be contacting another directly about work when they both had assistants, but it was the best he could think of. 'Hi, I haven't heard from my friend in a few days' wasn't serious enough and would draw odd looks. If he had Bai Yu's assistant's direct line then maybe he could psyche himself up to ask directly, but he didn't have it. He may be a meticulous actor but he was a slob of a human.

Zhu Yilong turned to a new page in his notebook and began to write his next script. In face-to-face interactions he found he could mostly fumble his way through as long as he smiled but over the phone people seemed to have a much lower tolerance for 'um-ing' and 'ahh-ing' and they of course couldn't see his apologetic expression. Script finished he dialled the number and waited impatiently, the cigarette in his mouth nearly at the end of its life. After a few rings, the other side picked up.

"Hello, is that Bai Yu's assistant? This is Zhu Yilong." Zhu Yilong, of course, couldn't remember the name of the man, only that Bai Yu called him 'Xiao-Tian'.

There came a choking sound over the phone, then, "H-hi yes. It is. How can I help you?"

Zhu Yilong looked at the next line of his script. "I was looking for Bai Yu but I can't get in contact with him." There was silence and unfortunately Zhu Yilong's script didn't have an option for that. He had assumed the assistant would have some kind of response. "Uhh... I was looking for him because..." He flipped back a page in his notebook and started to scan the page.

"You haven't heard?"

Zhu Yilong looked up from the page. "Huh? H-heard what?"

"Oh, that's right, um, forget I said anything okay? I'll be sure to tell the boss to call you back when he comes round."

Questions swirled in Zhu Yilong's head. He had guessed early on that if something had gone wrong for Bai Yu it wouldn't be immediately made public. Instead, his studio would lock down on all information coming out of the place and try to prevent any rumours. It was industry standard practice and Xiao-Tian's initial response had as good as confirmed it. It was only that he was inexperienced that he'd let something slip through.

"Come round? What do you mean by 'come round'? What's happened to him?" Zhu Yilong hadn't intended to, but his voice had suddenly taken on a harsh and commanding tone. He gripped his phone then suddenly stood up. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a few crew members from another team jump in shock at his sudden movement, but he was beyond caring.

Apparently Xiao-Tian's weakness was authoritative voices and he immediately replied. "The boss is unconscious."

"What?"

"He... we were looking at this... Thing, then he just collapsed."

Zhu Yilong felt his hearing go all strange, like everything had gone quiet. "... How long has he been unconscious?"

Apparently the assistant didn't find this question strange and replied, "A few days. No, about a week."

All the muffled sounds from the surrounding warehouses suddenly came back at full volume and the world around Zhu Yilong seemed to dim a little. He fought against the blankness in his mind and finally managed to speak again. "Tell me where he is."


End file.
